YTD Savings

[Ctwoodtick]

The ROI on satisfaction is immediate, and the ROI in a power outage is priceless.

Around here cheap natural gas is piped into basically every habitable structure. I figure we offset about $80-160 in heating costs per month with wood for the ~6 months of the year with meaningful heat demands. After the tax credit I think the stove will have an installed cost of around $5K give or take.

Assuming free wood forever and my time being calculated as free for all the wood processing and chimney/ash cleaning, the system will have paid for itself in about 7 years. Realistically speaking there are likely to be other costs associated with the system over time that could drag that out to 10 years or more, or never... If I eventually buy wood, then it might never balance out.

An honest assessment of wood burning in this region would be that most people who burn wood here do it because they want to, not because they need to. It's not about saving money, it's about having a beautiful fire in a beautiful stove, and having the utility of alternative heat when the power is out or the furnace isn't working.

Well said. To add to that, you’ve made yourself more physically active and have made your house more resilient to factors out of your control. These things are also a big gain in my opinion.

 

[Poindexter]

I dropped about $5k on a new chimney and another $5k on my woodstove. I "broke even" financially in 4-6 years, working for free humping about 8 cords per year.

Having "broken even" +/- 2019, with oil prices even higher now, my savings are starting to actually show up on my monthly balance sheet; with realistically another 10 years life expectancy on my stove given perhaps $2k in maintenance coming up.

When the power is off, my wood stove is worth infinity dollars. Given the current prices of oil for my boiler and cordwood, my stove is worth about $1500 annually; my house is warmer, and I am much better physical shape than I would be if I was sitting on the couch having Alexa adjust my thermostat. I am very happy to stack incoming green splits @ $200 per cord.

Once you have your drying process dialed in, all you have to do is turn the crank to run your own money printing machine.

 

[GrumpyDad]

As far as I can tell, so far, for a place we stay at about 40% of the time through winter, Oil and wood burning are about the same if I factor in my time a bit. I LIKE wood burning though, and dont like hearing the furnace kick on.

 

[Fallen Oak]

I did some calculations today comparing w/o insert and w/insert. I'm considering every single day of the year as oil is used for HW and some heating on "very cold" days.
W/O insert 3 gallons/day
VS.
W/ insert 1 gallon/day

Regardless of price - I am using 1/3 of what I would have used w/o the insert. I called my oil guy today to get the price it was $4.09.

W/O = $4380
W/ = 1492.85
Savings of: 2887.15
At that rate it'll take about 2 years to get a ROI.

House is now kept at 70+ vs. oil at a cold 63 - so it is an apples to oranges comparison. Probably would be closer to 5/gallons/day to keep the house at it's "new temperature".

 

[FPX Dude]

I don't know my actual number, but the ROI on the initial install and yearly usage was 3 years. After that, it's just Priceless

 

[Garbanzo62]

Just got Feb Oil Delivery. 33.8 gallons versus 212 last year. Year to date 318 gallons less. $4 a gallon so saved $1200 so far. Spent about 400 on wood but 80% of that has not been burned so I am about 1100 ahead. Granted, it has been warmer and I have the temp turned down in the house, but I'll take those savings.

 

[Garbanzo62]

Got a call from the Account Manager at the Oil Company wodering if I was getting oil from another provider.

 

[Garbanzo62]

Final Tally is in.. Oil usage down 411 gallons for a savings of $1765. Granted it was unusually warm this winter.
Wood cost were approx. $300 but much of that will be used next year.